In the very diverse world of project management systems, there are systems built to look good and systems built to work well. But rarely do we see a product that offers an intuitive and clean user interface built on an incredibly fast system.

The design and development team at Softalot put a lot of effort into making their product as user-friendly as possible, without sacrificing performance or relevance. Right from the start, users, be they team members, project managers or administrators, know what they need to do. While administrators login directly to the administration section – no need to plough through the user sections to get to the admin stuff in Team Manager, project managers and team members access the convenient Team Manager Today page, which displays only new tasks, messages and other items, neatly organised in easy to browse boxes. This is an excellent way to get started with one’s day!

Team Manager is designed to help teams work together, and it shows. From the basic one-on-one messaging system to the discussion board and the conference chat rooms, there is no way to be out of touch in Team Manager. Moreover, all these communications can be associated to a project and saved.

In the Project section, the interface is just as easy to use, and showcases the speed of the system. We were surprised how easy it was to add tasks on the fly, and even create the users that would accomplish these tasks on the spot! Moreover, the instant Gantt chart in the Project Plan sub-section was simply astounding. As tasks are created and dependencies configured, Team Manager updates its Gantt chart right in front of your eyes, so you can adjust your scheduling right away.

For version 3, our favourite new feature is the ease with which you can create sub-tasks, with the Indent and Outdent features. Also, moving tasks or changing task dependencies are a breeze: just drag the dependent task onto its predecessors in the Gantt chart, and you’re done! The Gantt chart itself has been improved: its “resolution” can be changed from daily to weekly view, so users can have a good overview of the project.

TeamManager now separates progress from time, so it is easier to know how much longer or quicker a task required. The Project Summary shows a pie chart where it is easy to have a global view of items started, finished and everything in between.

On the more day-to-day management scene, Team Manager designers have organized their system logically. Hence, from the Personal section, users can fill out their time sheets, submit expenses for refund and even request time off! Project managers, on their side, can go to the Management section and approve or reject these requests, as well as produce reports for one, several or all projects.

In version 3, managers can preview approved time and expenses before posting them to the project, so they get a second chance to double-check everything.

In the Public section, we especially liked the glossary section. Team Manager’s glossary tool is a simple application that lets everyone on the team to create his or her own glossary entries. This collaborative tool is especially useful to make sure everyone on the team uses the same terminology, an issue that can quickly become a tricky in technical fields such as architecture, science and technology.

Reports were simple yet comprehensive. They can be displayed in your Web browser or exported to Microsoft Excel®.

We found quite interesting that in Team Manager, administrators only access the administration items, such as users, servers and the like. Often system administrators are there to keep the system running and appreciate getting only the parameters that they require to do their job well.

Overall, Team Manager is a simple yet comprehensive system ideal for organisations that are looking for a tool that will simplify not only their project management but also complement their human resources and accounting systems.

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